


Seaward Gaze and Burning Shadows

by alicy_sunberg33



Category: Juuni Kokki | Twelve Kingdoms
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Nakajima Youko, Sugimoto wants to help, basically what would happen if Sugimoto was in the books, no beta we die like men, or rather a development of whatthe anime showed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23092906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alicy_sunberg33/pseuds/alicy_sunberg33
Summary: After passing through yet another portal in the seas of the Twelve Kingdoms, Sugimoto Yuka is back to Japan, and after resting for some months, she must return to the world of the living. School barely welcomes her with rumors and fleeting glances at her back, but she carries on regardless.However, a strange boy catches her attention. She finds herself becoming more curious about this boy that seemed to be cursed.
Relationships: Sugimoto Yuka & Taiki | Takasato Kaname
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Reminescence In the Heat Wave

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who read the books this will basically be the books but with Sugimoto as an actor of the development of the plot. I tweaked the time line so it’d kinda fit the anime!
> 
> For those of you who only know the anime this exactly as it is: basically this will explore in more details what we saw in the episodes.
> 
> Yes I know I am trash.

## 1 : Reminiscence in the heat wave

Her school start wasn’t in spring but in summer. It was hot. Convenient, considering the last time she wore her winter uniform, it was reduced to shreds by Youmas and desperate running around. It’s been months since her return and the school still didn’t deliver the new one. Apparently, they thought it had been unnecessary. Well, she couldn’t blame them. She hadn’t been sure she wanted to come back to school either, at first. But then in hindsight, how could she not return and see all those lovely people?

 _Aah... The good old days_ , she snarked inside. She couldn’t help a snort, and if the teacher guiding her noticed it, she didn’t show it. 

Sugimoto Yuka could somehow admit to herself that she was a survivor. Though she had depended on others’ skills to survive in the world of the 12 Kingdoms - Nakjima-san’s linguistic gift, the powers of the Kirin of Kou, the help of another Kirin from En, the help yet another Kirin from Kei-, so much so that she considered now to have an insolent amount of luck. But she could be sure that she had some pretty good instincts. Hunches and the awareness of an environment that do not wish for one’s well-being. At least, she could probably say she was resilient and that her instinct had her back. 

Yuka’s mind had been resting these last few months. But now she felt that she was going to need all of her resilience and instinct of survival developed during her stay in the 12 Kingdoms. After weeks of therapy, of questions, of playing a dumb and confused teeanager, of lying to everyone around her in order to not be labeled crazy, just as a traumatized kid with vague memories of her disappearance, Sugimoto Yuka was back to school. 

She had revisited the buildings with a certain fondness and relief. A bit surprising, considering she had very little good memories of her time there. 

Perhaps with Asano-kun... No. thinking back on it, her relationship with Asano was fun, at first, but she got tired of him and realized her feelings for him were probably not as genuine as she would’ve thought at first. It had just been... a convenience, 

She was bitter when she passed the front gate again after so long, sure. But the whispers in her back from the girls that despised her along with Yōko barely bothered her now. 

Though when she donned the uniform, she felt like she was back in business somehow. It had felt a bit like a travesty at first, much like when she was possessed by Setsugo, the water demon under Kourin’s control, that gave her so much power before. It had been a skin, though not hers, and did not protect as much as she initially thought. On the contrary, it might have exposed her more to the world around than before the possession.

Now was the time to embrace this new skin.

_Kourin..._

She would feel mournful while thinking back on her time in the Twelve Kingdoms. While it was true that the king of Kou had tried to manipulate her, Kourin, his kirin, his divine and sacred animal, the very being that put him on the throne, had done nothing but tried to protect her from this world, and the rest of the time, could only obey to the crazy orders of a king that had slowly descended into madness. A king she had chosen herself to sit on the throne of her kingdom. And that she decided to put an end to. What a tragic fate...

She would sometimes wake up from a nightmare. When she saw the king of Kou killing his own Kirin with a sword. Killing the most innocent and compassionate being this world could offer. When she put herself between Youko and his sword. Sometimes she was the one holding the blood-stained blade. And she would cry.

Sometimes her nightmares would be about Asano. About a wandering soul calling out her name and Youko’s, lost in the forest and an eternal fog. Sometimes she was the one calling out to them and crying like a lost child because no one would come and get her. And she would cry again.

Sometimes her nightmares would be about her racing in the forests, running away from youmas chasing her, their pants puffing on her neck with how close they were to snapping at her and eat her alive. Sometimes she was running but alone. Running away from something that was not there. Or running towards something that she didn’t know. An endless and desperate chase... And she would cry some more. 

Lots of crying, really. 

Youko told her that she would looking for Asano as well and send him back here as soon as possible. Should she succeed, Sugimoto would help him adjust, just like she did when she arrived. But if he never came back...

His parents were not in mourning yet but each day passin was harder for them to believe he was still alive... and if she was being honest, Yuka was being skeptical the more time passed. 

This journey to this strange place, past mysterious portals in the sea decidedly changed her perspective on many things. She was both terribly grateful for it, and also terribly annoyed from all the trauma she received from it.

Well... “Annoyed” was probably not the right word for it... but part of it was still annoying.

The first nights she had those nightmares, she was still in the imperial palace of En, the first kingdom out of the 2 she visited there, that gave her a proper welcome, and also from where the Queen of Kei took back her kingdom. Said-Queen, Youko, had been sleeping with her, or rather just standing around in their room at night because sleep was precisely something she could not find. She did have a busy mind, that’s for sure... They always ended up slumbering against one another after hours of talking, until the nightmares were gone for the night, and back for the next. During those days, Yuka and Youko had never been this close to one another. They talked and talked and talked. Yuka had wondered if it was the most talking both of them ever did. She had joked that Youko probably had a bit of a head start in that department. They had giggled at that.

“You will catch up,” she had smiled at her. “I’m sure of that, Sugimoto-san. You will catch up in no time.”

She had smiled back, humbled by her words. Nakajima had meant a lot to her, in many ways. Both in comfort and catharsis. She suspected being the same for her. She hoped to be worthy of her praise.

“Probably not at school, though,” she had pointed bitterly.

“Well... maybe they deserve a second chance...?” 

Sugimoto had raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. Nakajima gave her a sheepish laugh.

“Isn’t your old self showing here a little bit, Nakajima-san,” she had teased.

“Hm I wonder,” she laughed. “We were not really in the nicest class there was, were we?”

“That’s putting it lightly,” she had huffed, crossing her arms and legs, somewhat impatiently.

“Careful, your old self is showing, Sugimoto-san.” Youko had teased back and both girls laughed. “Everyone deserves a second chance, I suppose,” she had said after a while. “If that’s true for us, then that’s also true for our classmates.”

“... I guess I will just have to try, won’t I...”

“That’s the spirit!”

How she missed her, this not-so-shy-anymore, annoying and meddlesome red-headed girl who was Nakajima Youko. How she wished she could talk to someone like this here in this town where she still fought the disdain she had for most of the people she knew there.

Enki had laughed when she confided in him that she wasn’t looking forward to going back if it meant speaking with the same people that drove her nuts before coming to the Kingdoms. The boy had chuckled.

“I mean, I get where you’re coming from, but isn’t that a bit too harsh?”

“Most of my time in that place was spent with people bullying me constantly. I won’t say I made it difficult for them, but they certainly didn’t help,” she had sighed.

“... Right. How about you try to see if anything changed when you go back, and if it didn’t, then change your circles?”

“My circles...?” 

“Yeah!”

“Say that as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, why don’t you.” In the rare moments when Yuka had dared to use sarcasm in Enki’s presence, he had often laughed if off or tried to add on some more. At first she had been humbled by his status and the fact she had depended on his generosity quite a lot, but once they started to chat in his palace, they hit it off pretty nicely. Quite an unexpected development.

He had complimented her on her recovery. She had never been severely injured physically but he had seen a glimpse of her pain when he visited her “estate” in Kou. He had guided her in En and helped her find her way along with Youko and Keiki. 

“I mean, it seems obvious to me,” he had shrugged. “I can’t really change my circles since we’re all immortals around here. But if they weren’t all interesting and different people, things would get boring around here, let me tell you. But when I do get bored, I just go down in the city and I check the new places, the new stuff, the new ships, all of that, you know? I hardly see the time pass, but when I do, I just come down the mountain.”

She had nodded appreciatively, understanding his point somehow.

“What I mean to say is go check out other places, other people. If the guys at your place aren’t interesting, then talk to others who are! It’s easier than you think.”

Well maybe she would do just that. The school was useful for education, she’d give them that. Plus they had the library. She knew she had to try and not turn to books as much as she usually would, but well, she still liked reading!

Anyways, today was hot. The weather had been abysmally blue and stubbornly sunny. Soon rain would fall like a cleansing on the city but meanwhile, Sugimoto already wanted to take off her uniform and dive in the swimming pool of their school. Maybe she’d consider joining he swimming club... 

As she considered the thought, they had arrived at their destination, her old classroom. 

“Just wait a bit here, I will see if the teacher’s in,” the woman had said softly. She nodded and waited in the hallway, nonchalantly leaning in the wall. 

Outside, the cicadas were singing, oppressively and undisturbed in the heat. Facing the windows outside, she remembered when the giant birds under Kourin’s control had attacked the buildings looking for Youko, and then they took off with a giant gorilla, a giant jackal like creature and a wolf-lion chimera into the ocean through a magical portal.

That was certainly a way to start an adventure, she mused with a secret smile.

Looks like they replaced all the windows. Must’ve costed a lot. 

Her smile grew. Somehow, it seemed the windows were more in the know with what happened that day than any other children and teachers in the whole building. 

“You can come in,” the woman said, sliding open the door.

Sugimoto perked up, and then finally realized where she was. She hesitated in front of the door. She didn’t know if she really wanted to go in. Those people she hadn’t seen in months... that she had hated profusely. She felt ashamed, and scared, not feeling like she could face them... Plus after all these months? She would be late academically speaking and...

 _No._ That’s just an excuse. She could always catch up. Supplementary classes existed for that. Academics weren’t the issue here. She was just scared of facing them. Those girls that had hurt her so much...

“Sugimoto-san, are you okay?” the teacher asked and she didn’t know how to answer.

“Are you nervous?” she asked after a moment of standing next to her in front of the door. Behind it, the teacher seemed to continue his class like nothing was about to happen. Like nothing had happened during all this time while she was gone. Or rather, like they had moved on form their disappearance. Because that’s what human did right? Move on...

“Wouldn’t you be, Sensei?” she huffed, her shoulders stiffening, her fingers clenching around the handle of her schoolbag.

“I guess I would. But you know...”

Sugimoto looked up at the old little woman with her glasses and greying hair. The biology teacher.

“They don’t know what happened to you, so they will be a bit curious, true, but they don’t need to know, if you decide so.” It was a matter-of-fact way of seeing things. It probably wouldn’t be as easy as she said but it calmed her down somehow. 

She breathed. And exhaled. Relaxed her shoulders. Imagined the beautiful mountains of En stretching up to the sky and along the rice fields. Opened her eyes. She looked at the teacher, who was patiently waiting for her.

“Good to go?” She asked while putting her hand on the door handle. Yuka nodded.

“Alright then. Chin up! You got this!”

She did a shy thumbs up that was quite adorable for the old woman she was, and that made her laugh. Then the door slid open and she stepped in the class.

All the female faces stared at her as if they’d seen a ghost. 

She merely smiled.


	2. The Egg Tree

## 2 : The Egg Tree

The heat was dizzying. The cicadas were singing in such a way that both the temperature and the sound combined could lull Sugimoto in an out-of-body sort of state of mind. Even while her hand were taking notes in class and somehow listening to the teacher speaking, everything in her mind felt so heavy, her eyelids specifically, but also her lucidity. Her usual daydreaming was working exceptionally well today.

She knew that because, she could turn her head to the desk next to her and see the tall and thin silhouette of Keiki, his long white blond hair flowing past the chair, sitting straight and tense, his clear eyes staring at the black board intently, and his pale skin contrasting harshly with his dark traditional Chinese clothes, almost glowing. The desk seemed ridiculously small compared to his height. 

She blinked and then the sit was empty.

Being here in class reminded her of the moment when Keiki came to their school to fetch Youko and take her to the 12 Kingdoms.

She wondered why those hallucinations, those “mirages” appeared to her. Did she miss them? Did she still wish to be in that world? Did she still wish somewhere in her, to be part of it? Did she want to imagine only her could have seen the secrets hidden beyond the seas? Things that only her knew, because she was one of the few that lived and came back among all the other Kaikyakus that stayed behind?

Hm. 

Seemed like she still had some work to do to feel like she belonged here. She still felt like an outsider, but probably not as much as when she was in the Kingdoms. Back then she wanted to believe that she was finally home, finally in a world where she could be the heroine, where she could be of use and feel respected. Where she could truly belong. She had been grossly lying to herself... and she had been unfair to the Kingdoms, by assuming that she knew better and could save them. 

That world had a lot of people living in it. Normal people full of problems and trying to survive, one day at a time, despite dying fields and monster attacks. 

Pretty much the same thing here, really. Well... except for the monsters, but when someone was attacked, it could be through many different forms. And sometimes it could be monsters in human shape...

Damn it, it was really hot...

Her hand was sticking to the pages of her notebook. _Gross..._

She sighed. It was incredible that as soon as she returned to the comfort of her home in Japan, even the smallest of things could annoy her, whereas when she was trying to get by with Nakajima and Asano, they didn’t really have time to complain. Complaining was a luxury. As Sugimoto noticed her complacent behavior, she clicked her tongue impatiently, and admonished herself.

She started to get things for granted again. She would need to change that, and soon. 

Afternoon break arrived, and with it, the perspective of air and a soft breeze that blew away some of the heat from the school grounds. High schoolers all around tried to catch some of it before returning to their class and Yuka was no exception. 

On the corner of her eye as she was leaning against the frame of an open window in the hallway, she saw their class rep, a petite and discrete girl with curly chestnut hai and round glasses framing thin black eyes, struggling to carry a thick stack of paper, probably to bring it to the teacher’s room. She just managed to gather them in her arms securely, to avoid any of them slipping away, when some girls going out didn’t seem to pay attention or even to care, and bumped her in the shoulder, while giggling like turkeys.

As one would expect, the poor class rep let go of her pile from the shock, and all the papers scattered across the hallway’s floor, and she stared at them, dumb-founded. Yuka sighed, impressed at the other girls’ behavior but not in a good way. Some things really didn’t change...

“Hey!”

This was the sound Yuka was going to make, as she turned to help her class rep. But the call out was from the girl herself, who was putting her hands on her hips, glaring at the girls walking away from them. She did not look quite as shy now. Yuka bit back an amused smile. 

“If you’re not going to apologize, Sakurai-san, then I’d at least appreciate you help pick them up,” she said with a stern politeness. 

The others probably didn’t expect her to speak up. But then Sakurai, a pretty girl with a cute bob, and dimples, merely laughed, faking a sheepish look.

“Sorry, Hiira-san, I didn’t see you there! I have to meet with a teacher so I have to go...”

“What a coincidence! So do I!” Yuka almost laughed at Hiira’s fake surprise. She was very good. “We can go together, then, you can help me with that!”

Sakurai gave an uncomfortable laugh. Probably didn’t expect that from the usually quiet and soft-spoken class rep.

“Sorry! See ya! I’m sure you got it covered!” Sakurai glanced at Yuka and she took off while giggling with her friends, leaving the two other girls standing there in the middle of the sea of papers around them. Hiira Mikan sighed an exasperated groan and knelt to start picking up the mess.

“Sounds like you have a lot on your plate, Hiira-san,” Sugimoto said trying to sound as sympathetic as possible, but only managing a curt tone. She winced internally. 

However Hiira simply glanced at her behind her glasses and sighed again.

“I know right? I’m not cut out for this...”

“Well, I think you’re already doing a good job considering what just happened.”

“Heh. I guess. Thank you... Sugimoto-san?”

“Yuka’s fine. Nice to meet you again, I guess.”

“Heh. Likewise! You can call me Mikan!”

The girls exchanged a smile of understanding before focusing on gathering the papers. Yuka took half of them and helped Mikan carrying the rest. 

“Eeeeh, so you’re the one who disappeared?”

Already, Yuka was fond of Mikan’s bluntness. She smiled, amused at her casual tone.

“That’s me.”

“What was that about, if you don’t mind me asking? I heard there were three of you and that the school exploded, even, but that’s about it...”

“You weren’t here last year, were you?”

“Transfer student,” she nodded while pointing at herself while they were walking out of the school building after classes.

“That makes sense. I’m sure we made it look like it was a curse or something but it wasn’t of our doing. Just a dramatic coincidence, if you ask me.”

The blatant lie flowed easily out of her. It was a practiced thing, after all those weeks of coming up with a story that could explain their departure from Japan.

“Right. Well then, why did you guys leave? You ran away at the same time right?”

“...The three of us had a hard time in our homes... Or rather, for some of us, it wasn’t hard per se, we just... you know... wanted out, I guess.”

This much was the truth. She knew she wanted out of this world, back then. Of this school. Asano had been pretty much taken against his will, and honestly, Nakajima wasn’t much different. 

“Then I think there was an accident during the typhoon we had at the time and I lost them in the storm... Got lost as well before managing to return... To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t remember much passed this. All that happened to the three of us, how I ended up coming back... I can’t seem to recall any of it... Most of what I just told you is just me trying to fill in the blanks.”

Mikan stared at her, hummed sympathetically and chose to move on to another subject. Seemed like she noticed this was an uncomfortable subject for her. Sugimoto smiled, feeling both grateful and relieved. 

Mikan was still pretty much new to the city, so Yuka decided to show her around for a bit. 

Their walk through town had been quiet but long. Mikan seemed to be the type to stop and observe something and ask questions later. Yuka didn’t mind the silence, the heat and the crowd agitating around them was making enough of a fuss. She took her to the park on the bay’s shores. There was some people staying there but it was suddenly much calmer than the streets, where the heat was locked in the middle of the towering buildings. Here, the sea breeze refreshed their minds under the trees, and the hubbub was distant, almost like it was through a thick glass. 

“There is a beach further south but we would need to take the bus to get there.”

“Shame, I wouldn’t mind going for a swim right now.”

“Do you have a swimsuit on you?” Sugimoto joked, eyes closed, as they were lazing in a very unladylike way on a bench facing the sea, letting the waves lull them to sleep. 

“Honestly, I would’ve gone with my clothes on,” Mikan deadpanned, and Yuka laughed. “It’s too hot in this city... How do you people bear it?”

“Well, usually we don’t.” They smiled at the waves. Mikan looked up and sniffed the air.

“It’s gonna rain soon I think.”

“You can smell it in the air, is that it?”

“Joke all you want, I have a pretty good nose for that.”

“Eeeeeh...” Yuka said, not entirely convinced.

And this is pretty much how their friendship started. Summer made it start slow between the girls because, most of the time they were together, they were just lazing around, trying to bear with the temperature and the heavy climate, not saying a word.

The next day after their first time at the park, it was raining. 

Mikan had shrugged smugly when Sugimoto looked at her, impressed.

As they were resting their faces close to the open window in their classroom, Mikan was finishing organizing polls she had passed around in class.

“By the way, Yuka-chan.”

“Hm.”

“I think there was someone who was sort of spirited away like you were.”

Yuka frowned and turned to her.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Apparently he disappeared during one whole year when he was a kid.”

“Who’s that?”

“A kid in first year. Can’t remember the name though, I heard that mid conversation.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“At the student council meeting. Some other second year class reps were talking about him while we waited for the teachers to come. I thought that sounded familiar.”

“So now, every guy that ever disappeared before will sound familiar to you?” Yuka snarked and Mikan huffed.

“Well, apparently,” she ignored her remark and went on, “it seemed he doesn’t remember anything from the time he disappeared.”

This made her pause.

“What did you say his name was again?”

“I didn’t. Are you curious?” Mikan always asked this kind of questions without any sort of judgement. 

“Well... Can’t deny that... He really doesn’t remember anything?”

“Apparently.”

“Hm.”

During the next few days, Yuka listened intently to rumors from the classes around hers but they were more vague and discreet than she would’ve liked. Never giving names. Because they obviously knew of whom they talked about when calling them the “cursed kid”. She knew he apparently disappeared but to the point of being called cursed? Even if she knew how exaggerated sometimes rumors could become, that was a bit much, wasn’t it?

Later on, as she asked around her neighborhood about other people disappearing, she did heard about one but just evoking “Masao-san’s nephew,” or “Chiyo-san grandson”. It was honestly a bit infuriating, especially because she was trying to be not too upfront about her questions. She didn’t want people getting curious about her intentions to know more. And she didn’t want to give them the excuse to ask her more questions about what happened to her. 

_So damn hot today again. Geez..._

Sweat was rolling under her hair and in her neck. Should she cut her hair even shorter and free her neck from the hair there? The bangs on her forehead were also annoying. She tried to blow them away in vain.

As she was pondering on this, she passed through a hallway displaying some paintings from the art club throughout the years. She stopped dead on her tracks in front of one of them.

It was a tree. Devoid of leaves and flowers. But still bearing fruits. 

Although there was just one ovoid-shaped, big fruit. 

It was familiar. This sight. This tortuous and ancient trunk, these complex and long branches... these type of fruits...

So familiar it gave her a headache.

She got closer to the painting and could see now the shape of an infant, curled on itself inside the round fruit. She saw that picture before. She knew what it was.

_Riboku_. That’s the word. The tree of ri. The tree from which people of the Twelve Kingdoms are born. In those big fruits called the ranka. 

This one was alone though.

Long ago, back before she was welcomed in En’s imperial palace with Nakajima, she stayed in the capital with a teacher who was also spirited away, another _kaikyaku_ , “Sea guest”, like her, who was transported to the Kingdoms some 30 years ago. Heki Rakujin was how he went by. He taught her how people were born in this land. And also explained that when a Kingdom was full of misery, people would avoid tying their ribbon, their vows and wishes for children to the Riboku branches, because they didn’t want their child to be born in such a horrible time. 

A lone fruit on this tree meant misery on its land. 

But that was assuming that it was actually a riboku. No one except her could possibly know about that here. No one. 

And yet... It was hard to ignore the similarities. She knew that tree well after all.

It was under such a tree that she almost killed Youko. 

It was under such a tree that Kourin died by the mad hand of her master and king. 

It was a frequent visitor of her nightmares. She knew how to recognized one when she saw it.

She looked down the painting, finding a tag underneath. 

_The Egg Tree._

Sugimoto pursed her lips. 

This had to be a coincidence... This had to be.

The name was.... the Kanji characters were a struggle to read. She frowned.

_Kouri... Kaname?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for dropping by. So basically, for those of you who read the books, this will basically look like Demon Child, except Sugimoto will be playing Hirose’s Role, much like the anime. Of course, some plot elements will be changed compared to the novel. Because Sugimoto knows things that Hirose couldn’t possibly be aware of. It will be a development of the snippets we saw in the anime. 
> 
> Hiira Mikan is an original character, and she will kind of be the honey badger of this story.
> 
> For those of you who read the books up til the Risai arc, then you will be pleased to know there is a sequel that came out at the end of last year, Hills of Silver Ruins, and a delightful guy has started to translate it on his blog, it’s Eugenewoodbury.com !


End file.
